Epidemiologist Mycobacterial diseases and NTDs

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (ITM) has as aim the advancement and spread of the sciences that contribute to tropical medicine and to public health globally with focus on low- en middle income countries. The ITM provides fundamental, translational and applied scientific research, delivers advanced education and provides medical, scientific and societal expert services. The ITM is an open and international campus where staff, students and researchers work on new international health challenges. ITM has three departments, one focusing on pathogens (Department of Biomedical Sciences), one on patients (Department of Clinical Sciences) and one on populations (Department of Public Health).

The mission of the Department of Public Health is to conduct public health research of international standing, provide postgraduate education of high quality and engage in service delivery with the ultimate goal to advance global health. The department is organized in multidisciplinary research groups, including public health specialists, epidemiologists, social scientists and health economists. The ‘Tropical Infectious Diseases’ (TID) group is one of the research groups in the department, its objective is to contribute to the control of infectious diseases affecting low resource settings, through linking scientific research, advanced education, policy support and capacity-strengthening. We use quantitative, qualitative and mixed method inter-disciplinary approaches (e.g. epidemiology, sociology, anthropology, psychology, demography) that explain risk and vulnerability as evidence base for improving outcomes.

The research portfolio of the unit of ‘Mycobacterial diseases and NTDs’ of the TID research group focuses on human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), visceral leishmaniasis (VL), cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), leprosy and tuberculosis. We also contribute to the teaching on these subjects in the Masters of Public Health (MPH) and postgraduate courses at ITM and coordinate and organize teaching on epidemiology and statistics in the MPH courses. We seek to recruit an epidemiologist with a medical background.

We expect that the successful candidate will strengthen the existing research lines of the unit, in particular on VL and leprosy. In both domains the candidate is expected to manage ongoing projects under supervision of an experienced senior staff member. The candidate is also expected to contribute to further developing these research lines, including acquisition of new research funding. Initiatives to develop additional research lines in NTDs or other infectious diseases affecting low and middle income countries are encouraged.

A key aspect of the work of our unit is collaboration with partners in low and middle income countries, in particular with national disease control programs, universities and NGOs. For this reason we are looking for candidates with a medical background and at least one year experience of working in healthcare systems in low or middle income countries. Formal training in epidemiology and statistics is an asset.

• Your primary assignment is to conduct research in visceral leishmaniasis and leprosy.
• You will assist in the management of the ongoing research projects and in the development and acquisition of new projects in these domains. You will visit on a regular basis the projects in which the unit is involved in low and middle income countries, primarily in Africa and Asia.
• You will help in the development of new research lines within the domain of the unit, including by contributing to research grant applications.
• You will contribute to teaching activities and developing new course modules, in particular in the domain of epidemiology and statistics.
• You will support other members of the department of public health in data management and data analysis.

Required

• You are a medical doctor with post graduate training in tropical medicine, a master in public heath or a master in epidemiology.
• You have at least one year of personal experience working in low-and middle income settings in the domain of health care. You are willing to travel overseas.
• You have good skills in biostatistics, epidemiological study design and data analysis, including knowledge of software packages such as R and Stata or are prepared to actively develop such skills.
• You have good writing skills.
• You have an excellent knowledge of English and preferably French.

Additional assets

• Knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) and relevant open source software packages such as QGIS is an asset, the same applies to knowledge of open source electronic data collection systems such as ODK Collect.
• Having published articles in peer reviewed medical or epidemiological journals is an asset.
• Knowledge of Dutch - or a willingness to learn it.

ITM is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive institute. We strive for excellence and relevance, integrity, sustainability and persistence and fairness. Your assignment contributes to our mission. We value human dignity and diversity, academic creativity and a critical spirit, solidarity and cooperation, and the well-being of employees, students, patients and clients. We offer you:

• A full-time contract of 2 years, renewable.
• Starting date: as soon as possible.
• A salary set according to the pay scales of ITM and the Flemish universities and to your work experience with some supplementary benefits, such as private pension scheme and meal voucher subscription.
• A collegial research environment and mentorship with attention to work-life balance and individual growth and development.
• An immigration and relocation assistance package (if applicable).

For more information about this position, please contact HR (recruitment@itg.be).

Send your CV together with your letter of motivation to recruitment@itg.be before 1 March, 2022.

You are an ITM-colleague and ready for a new challenge? Do not hesitatie to contact HR about this position. Your candidacy will be handled strictly confidential.

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